A housing provides an external physical frame for an electronic device. In such an electronic device, the housing encloses an assembly of electronic components forming at least one electronic circuit. Typically, these electronic components are placed onto a circuit board that is known in the art as a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA). A main PCBA can include smaller PCBAs known as modules. These modules, when operably connected to function together on the main PCBA, form the electronic device.
There are different methods used to fabricate the above housing. One method uses a mold that provides a required final shape for the housing. In one type of molding method, the molding material (a liquid resin) is applied to the mold in a process known as injection molding. After curing the liquid resin in the mold, the end product is called a molding or, for the above housing, a molded housing.
A molded housing is three dimensional and can include a variety of slots, holes, or any extrusive or indented physical features. Such physical features allow a variety of other devices (mechanical or electrical) to connect to the electronic device enclosed within the molded housing. For example, in a typical telephone set, a telephone wire connects two electronic devices, a handset and a base unit. The interfacing connectors of the wire and the two electronic devices sit in two holes, one on each of the molded housing of the two electronic devices.
In a molded housing for an electronic device, effective use of the molded housing enables the electronic device to meet its expected electrical and mechanical design requirements. An example of such a design requirement is the placement of a ground shield needed for a ground signal reference. (The ground shield is typically a metallized plate or a metallized layer on a printed circuit board.) For an effective ground signal reference, the electronic circuit requires at least one electrical connection to the ground shield. In addition to the ground shield, an RF shield is another electrical requirement for some electronic devices, particularly when RF signals leak excessively into the external environment from the circuitry of the electronic devices.
Placing a metallized shield for the purposes stated above requires efficient usage of the available space within the electronic device's housing, especially when the metallized shield is a core layer of a printed circuit board of the electronic device or a metal plate covering a module on the PCBA. As electronic devices continually decrease in size to meet consumer requirements, usage of space for elements like metallized shields becomes an important design requirement. Therefore, a need exists to place metallized shields effectively in electronic devices, and yet take up as little space as possible.
Other than the metallized shields described above, connecting elements (such as cable connectors or mounting brackets) form another part of the electronic device. These connecting elements are typically affixed on the molded housing or on the printed circuit board to provide connections to other devices. For example, a computer has plugs and jacks for connecting to a multitude of other devices, such as a display or a keyboard. Not only do these connectors add to the cost of the electronic device, they also take up a substantial amount of space on circuit boards enclosed within the housing of the electronic device. Therefore, a need also exists to reduce or eliminate elements in an electronic device (such as cable connectors or mounting brackets) in order to maximize the efficient usage of circuit board and housing spaces within the electronic device, and to minimize the cost of the electronic device itself.